Life’s pretty bleak in rural Eastern Europe these days, and worse if you’re a Gypsy. That’s about all I got out of “My Dog Killer” (screening at 6:45 p.m. Nov. 11 and 1:45 p.m. on Nov. 12), Slovakia’s Foreign Film Oscar entry.

The movie follows gangly, inexpressive youth Marek (Adam Mihal) around on his World War II era motorbike, from his father’s scruffy vineyard to the nearby town where he’s semi-accepted by a gang of skinheads to the bleak suburb where his mother lives, and is ostracized for having had Marek’s half-Roma little half-brother. The only relationship that really does anything for Marek, though, is with that mean dog, Killer, whom he loves to, as it turns out, quite some fault.

Perhaps if Mihal were capable of displaying feelings, the movie would have engaged a little. Perhaps writer-director Mira Fornay wanted him to indicate that such indifference could lead to any kind of disastrous societal outcome; she’s obviously and understandably worried about the ugly, racist fascism that’s reemerging in many economically wasted parts of the continent. But, y’know, yuck and double yuck — though I guess it’s admirable that, if nothing else, “My Dog Killer” sheds gray but unblinking light on that ugliness.

Check back for updates from AFI Fest and more reviews by Los Angeles News Group reporter Bob Strauss.